Annemor Sundbø and Nina Granlund Sæther talked about Norwegian mitten traditions together with Merete Jansvik Toft (Monstermønster) tonight. A Thursday evening can't really be better than that. Well, if you start out with a nice dinner and wine together with Merete it might. Geeky talk about mittens, thumbs and traditional patterns is very fun and interesting. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I guess you're reading the wrong blog. Did you know it was normal to use hair from a goat or human hair to make the socks stronger? I'm always impressed by people who are so dedicated to something and make their hobby their living, just as Annemor Sundbø and Nina Granlund Sæther have done. They collect and preserve national treasures and traditions and make it available to the people.

For us knitters paradise is a lot of time to knit, a yarn store with tons of beautiful yarn in all the colours possible and a lot of knitting patterns fitting to all the yarn. Somebody might not even need a yarn store, since the yarn stash is the size of a yarn store. After I blogged about the skein of yarn I found in my stash, I realized I have a lot of skeins like that. Skeins I've bought but not really know what to knit. Not that I think that is a big problem. The problem is more in the direction that I know I need to reduce my stash before fall since I'm going to buy a lot in Rhinebeck. I should reduce it with a lot. It helps my motivation to go through the stash. Now I really want to put all my WIPs aside and start about 20 new projects.

Always nice to meet up with friends who have the same geeky interest as yourself. They understand you. Today was knit night, and I enjoy it when everybody keeps talking, you can't stop laughing and the needles just work on their own. Some absurd things, some dreams and some plans. Lovely Tuesday again! My knitting was the first sleeve of the Hanneli-sweater. I think I'm going to be able to finish it before March ends. And check out the colours of the Marius-sweater Ellen strikkedilla is knitting. Of course I immediately felt an urge to cast on a Marius-sweater.

Sock Madness socks are done, so then I dug out one of the other WIPs I have around here. I wouldn't mind finishing the Hanneli-sweater before the weekend or during it. Not too much left either. Two sleeves, sewing together and a bit on the front piece, but thick needles helps even though there are a lot of cables. I think I can make it. This is Hanneli sweater number two. The first one was white, and this one is light pink. Lovely yarn! The first sweater was to a colleague, and so is this one. Spring is really here, but I guess there will always come another winter, even though I don't like to think about it.

Today has been sunny, and the sun has been warm. Spring is in the air! Once spring comes and the sun is up, out pops masses of winter white people longing for some sun in Oslo, and the streets are packed with people. It's lovely! I enjoy spring so much! I'm addicted to sun and heat. So why I live in Norway, that's a question. We popped out as well, and the first BBQ is done. Apparently the spring weather is only going to last until Tuesday, but today, we just enjoy it.

I'm done with the socks for Sock Madness, finally. As I've written earlier, they are really a fast sock pattern, just me who didn't really have time to knit this week. I just made it to the next round as well. Three spots left after my socks were approved. I have to pack some sock yarn for Easter, I guess. Soon Easter, and more spring. I can't wait to take a book, knitting and just chill in a park in the sun.

Sometimes the day should have more hours. Sometimes you just don't have enough time to do everything you want to be done.This week the new pattern from Sock Madness came out, and I have had about one afternoon and a couple of hours to knit. Now there are only 9 places left on my team, and I still have half the cuff on sock two left and both the heels. I don't think I'm going to make it. But I get a new pair of socks. I don't have the energy or motivation to sit up during the night to knit, so I'm going to finish them tomorrow. If there's still a place left, there is, otherwise I'm out. Even though I haven't had a lot of time to knit, I've had a lot of time to other nice things. I've been to two concerts, training and have had time to the kids. Sometimes life just takes time.

Some skeins might grow old with me. This skein I bought many years ago. I can't remember excactly when, but it has been going through a lot of weighing and counting of my stash. It just doesn't look that nice anymore. It's a good thing the label is still on. I don't know if storing yarn is the same as storing wine, approving with age. Some wine are not supposed to be stored either, and maybe that's the case with yarn as well. I have to admit the skein doesn't look as tempting now as it was when I bought it. The colours are great, but I'm really not sure what to knit. It's 100% merino wool, so it's not going to be socks of course. And I don't think I have enought for a shawl either. Any suggestions? I think I have more of the same kind in my stash, the I-don't-know-what-to-knit-type. I don't think I ever had a plan for it actually.

Finally some knitting time! I discovered I hadn't seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show, so I had to watch it tonight! At the same time I accepted a movie list challenge. But I have knitted a bit, though. I'm still knitting on the Sock Madness socks. Now I have to knit fast to make it to next round. I'm counting on getting a lot of knitting time tomorrow. And The Rocky Horor Picture Show, I understand why it's a cult movie. Fantastic movie, and why haven't I watched it before?

And that is OK! We need diversity! So yesterday I rocked the socks to show we need diversity, and to support people with Downs syndrome. I don't remember how many years I've been doing this, but I noticed this year a lot more joined on Facebook and Instagram. I think the whole thing started in Sweden, or I think I found out about it through somebody from Sweden. I'm happy a thing like this spreads, and I don't think it will solve any world problems, but of all sharing-things going around on SoMe, I support this one. And on a notice, I'm still knitting socks for Sock Madness. Not that much knitting time makes a realtively fast pattern go relatively slow.

I'm still knitting on my Sock Madness-socks, but I don't really have that much time to knit. And today I even manage to choose reading before knitting. I just had to finish the book I was reading, which accidentally matched my knitting. Wrote a book review in my bookblog. Now back to the socks. Would be nice to go on to the next round.

Right now about 600 ladies around the world are knitting the same pairs of socks. Now it's serious, we're going to knit a pair of socks the fastest we can, and the first pattern after we were put on teams, are on. It's pure madness, and the name is Sock Madness. I've written about this earlier, and it hits me again how crazy this is. Crazy, but incredible fun and nerdy as well. So even if I don't really have time to knit a pair fo socks, I'm knitting a pair of socks. Before I went to work today, I found two skeins of sock yarn from my stash. Good thing I can use yarn from my stash, and even if it doesn't mean a huge amount, it's at least reducing stash. So now the excitement is if I'm fast enough to go through to the next round. I'm on Team Amaranth Zebu. You don't really know what that means, do you? I didn't either. It's supposed to be a kind of red-purplish colour, and Zebu is an animal. The teams all start with the letters from A-K, and all the names are a colour and an animal. How creative to come up with team names like that. But I don't really have time to write a blog post, since I'm supposed to be competing. I have just started with the stitch pattern after knitting the toe.

Sundays are nice. Mostly they are relaxing containing a lot of knitting, a lot of reading and a lot of time. Today I started catching up on some of the podcasts I follow. And then it hit me, do you follow any podcasts? Maybe you have some recommendations? Not that I really need more podcasts to follow, but I love to get ideas from people and it's always nice to have some to choose between. I subscribe to a lot, but I have to say I don't watch every episode from everyone. It depends on my mood and how busy I am. From September to about mid-December last year, I was really, really busy and didn't watch one episode of any podcast at all. Ok, then I wasn't busy, my head was just some place else. (Skam, if you haven't looked it up, you should. It's a Norwegian tv-series with a new airing concept. Google it.) But right now it's between seasons and I got my head back on knitting, so now I'm all about podcasts again.

I really enjoy Vero who has the podcast Along The Lanes. It's beautifully edited and great quality, but she's not actively podcasting and has had a long break. Her latest episode is from Edinburgh Yarn Festival, but before that it was a 5 months break. Along The Lanes is a video podcast, and you can find it on Youtube. Vero is a Canadian living in the UK, btw.

Another video podcast I really enjoy is Kammebornia. Pia makes the podcast together with her husband Dennis, and they have lovely music and the pictures are great. I love the feel of old Swedish traditions and it kind of gives me the same feeling as I had when I watched movies based on the books by Astrid Lindgren. You find it on Youtube as well. Pia and Dennis live in Sweden, and they talk Swedish but have English subtitles.

Sockmatician is a fun video podcast with Nathan as a host. He loves double knitting and he used to have grammar rants. Love it! He also talks a bit about his life which is a lot more intersting than mine. He is married to a composer, and both do muscals and theaters and shows. Check him out on youtube. He lives in London. I also listen to podcasts.

My favourite is Marthe & Marthe. They are great. Unfortunately they make their podcast in Norwegian. You should just learn Norwegian. They are geeky, funny and they choose a theme every episode and do some research before they make the podcast. Love it! You can find their podcast on iTunes or at Martheogmarthe.com I don't always listen or watch knitting podcasts, just almost. My favourite non-knitting podcast is The Moth. It's a storyslam podcast with great stories from a lot of different people. The stories are taped live at different storyslam events around the USA, and they choose the best ones and put them in a podcast. Some are funny, some are heartbreaking, some are touching, some are lovely. You should be listening to it. I have about ten more I subscribe to, but I think I leave it there. But I loved to have suggestions from you.

When do you have time to knit? And read? It's really not about making time to knit or read, but about using every opportunity I get to knit or read, or actually both. Yes, I work more than 100%, and yes, I work out, and yes, I have two kids. How I manage to have time for everything? I'm good in doing two things at the same time. And I'm real good in using every minute. It's not like I spend an hour or two in the couch reading a book every evening. But I read a book while I'm making meat balls and the potatoes are boiling. It takes some minutes. And it's not like I can sit down in the couch while the potatoes are boiling and the meat balls are frying, but I can stand next to the stove with a book in my hand and some music on my headset. I don't have time to read many pages, but a few, and a few pages are better than none. I like to turn up for appointments early. Not only because it means I don't have to stress, but because I can sit down and wait with a book or my knitting, or maybe both. Specially if the appointment is at a café or a place I can sit down. The same goes for seminars at work. It's always some time to knit and/or read before the seminar starts. And I'm lucky, since I have a job where it is fully acceptable to knit at seminars. My focus is so much better when my hands are busy with knitting. And now the soccer season is starting again. What do I do when my son is at soccer practice? I sit in the car with a book and my knitting of course. That's some hours, I'll tell you. In my purse you can be sure you'll always find knitting. You never know when an opportunity comes up. And if there is one opportunity to knit and my knitting is at home, well that is just frustrating. Most of the time I bring a book too, but since e-books where invented I always have some books ready on my phone. The library in Norway have an app where you can borrow ebooks for free. Love it! So now you know the secret to why I can knit and read so much.

Sometimes my knitting madness actually contains very little knitting. How is that even possible? Yes, since sometimes you have to plan your next knitting project. And the next one. And the next one. And with a forum page called Ravelry ... Do I need to say more? So many patterns, so many project pages, so many variations of one pattern ... I really had plans just to check out a cardigan pattern, but what was supposed to be a short search for a cardigan, turned out to be some few hours searching Ravelry. Time flies, I'll tell you. It's easy to get lost among all the projects at Ravelry. Steals time from knitting time as well. But planning and dreaming about the next project takes time. I have my knitting in my lap, but mostly I've been surfing and clicking this evening. And I'm the kind of person who needs to plan projects some time before I actually can cast on. And normally I've been through that procedure several times before I actually cast on a new project. No wonder my wish list of next projects increases. Tonight's project is the same as yesterday, since right now it's more a small blanket than a knitting project, Hanneli-sweater.

Somedays at work are better than others. Today was definetely one of the better days at work. Today was a seminar. Sometimes the seminars are seminars for holding a seminar. This seminar was different. It was fun and I learned a lot. And I could knit the hole day too. Can a day be better than that? Not sure. Today's knitting was Hanneli-sweater number two.

Sock Madness round 1 - I'm done! Not that I know if they will be approved or not, since rumour has it the jury is quite strict this year. Something to do with the increasing of stitches for the heel, so I don't really know if I made it to round two or not. Not that it matters that much, since I don't have time to fast knit socks in the future anyway. But the important thing is almost 100 g of sock yarn from my stash is knitted, and that is yarn dieting, right? I know that almost 100 g is kind of like a drop in the ocean, but you have to start somewhere. I have started! This is moving in the right direction. I'm counting on 10 kg yarn stash knitted up before Rhinebeck in October with this speed. Socks are done, and of course they don't fit me. But somebody have big enough feet. Almost 100 g of Schoppel Admiral Ombré out of my stash. The pattern is called Twisted Madness, and I'm sure the pattern will be out right after Sock Madness is done. Nice socks, but the pattern takes time to knit.

Tonight was knit night, and we decided to move to the Library bar at hotel Bristol. It's such a nice and cozy place which sets the perfect mood with a guy in a suit playing the piano, they serve afternoon tea if you want to, and they have the best hot chocolate in town. The weather forecast said it would be quite a warm day, but that didn't happen, it was wet, windy and cold today. When that happens you deserve a nice hot chocolate with whipped cream. I almost finished the socks for round 1 in the Sock Madness as well. Finished now, but no photo until tomorrow since it's too dark to take a decent photo. Knit night is so nice, and tonight was no exception. We talked about knitting festivals, there are so many of them now, Edinburgh, Finland soon, Marstrand in Sweden, Narvik, Fanø, Rhinebeck and it would be lovely if you could earn money by travelling around on knitting festivals to talk, mingle, meet new people, knit and buy new yarn. Yeah, yeah, until that happens, I have to reduce my yarn stash a little. Right now I'm reducing it a little. Just a little, almost 100 g in fact. But any how, knit night is so great! And another project off the needles. Just need to keep on working with the other projects I still have on the needles.

I don't always need time to get things done, but it always helps with a deadline. I managed to speed up a bit yesterday, and today I'm still knitting on them. Soon the Sock Madness socks will be done. I miss about halft a sock, but the night is still young. I believe I can finish the socks either tonight or at least some time tomorrow. And hopefully my socks will be approved and I'll move on to the next round. It's supposed to be this thing with the heel increases. I think I've managed to do it right, but I'm not going to be sure until they are approved. I just have to send them in and hope for the best. Tomorrow when I'm done. I hope!

So another Sunday without any plans. Just as good, since I slept until noon today. Today's big question; What do I knit? As usual I have too many projects on the needles. I didn't even bother to take photo of all of the WIPs, since some of them didn't even get into consideration today. Somethings I should finish soon, and I should prioritize them, but that doesn't really mean I want to knit on them. Sock Madnes is on, as I've said before, and I should finish the first pair of socks since the deadline is Friday. The pattern is ok, and the structure is fine. But I'm not really in a sock knitting mood right now. And that exclude the Vanilla socks in Regia, the yarn I got from Kiwaen as well. Vanilla socks are a bit boring to knit when you're sitting at home alone. Ok to knit in a dark movie theater while watching a movie, but not home alone. I should really finish the jacket, The Flea, since I was supposed to have that one done in December. It's just I need to find more yarn to knit the sleeves, and a small detail like that is a huge thing sometimes. The Hanneli-sweater is fun to knit, but also the project I started the last and I have no deadline. I also have a pair of mittens, but I have to count to know where I am in the pattern. A big thing as well. I ended up knitting the Sock Madness socks, and I think I deserve some praise since I stuck with that the whole day. I finished the first sock and I'm on the second one. Do you have problems to choose what to knit or do you only have one projects on the needles?

It's Edinburgh Yarn Festival. It seems like my whole feed on Instagram is in Edinburgh. Yes, except me then. I'm home! I'm no where near yarn temptations, knitting celebrities, knitters and Edinburgh! I wish I was a lot closer. It looks so fun! And I know how nice and great it is when knitters meet up. But yeah, I countdown until Rhinebeck Wool and Yarn festival while I'm browsing at the pictures from Edinburgh Yarn Festival. Looks like they have a great time! I found some old picture of some beautiful yarn from Knit Night at Steam. And to all you in Edinburgh; Enjoy and have a great time!

A sign of spring is Sock Madness. Sock Madness is a competition where knitters compete in knitting a pair of socks the fastest. There are rounds, there are teams and it will be a winner at the end. All the sock patterns in the competition are not published previous. And of course there are a lot of chatter at the Ravelry forum, and a lot of waiting for a new pattern to be published. Of course it's speed knitting and how to prioritize time? Or actually it is the question of how to clear most of your every day life to have enough time to your knit-socks-the-fastest-I-can-life. The competition is in its eleventh year, and the first pattern is already out. The first pattern gives the contestants 14 days to finish a pair of socks. After the first round, we are divided into teams. The pattern was published a week ago, but I haven't had time to start until today. I hope to finish the pair before time is up.

Nothing more proper to knit on the International Women's Day than yet another pussyhat, right? A friend from the roller derby team asked, or actually kind of challenged me. And yes, I'm a sucker for a challenge. Started at work today and finished before I was done with work and a couple of hours before the Women's March. Always nice to surprise somebody! And especially on Women's Day. So many strong speeches today, and so many proves we still need an International Women's Day. The hat is knitted in Finull on needles 2,5 mm and 3,5 mm.

Some days are real busy and contains work, work, work. Today was a day like that. Not only paid work, but volunteer work. In my case that means coaching the freshmeats, and even if that is work, it's fun work. Freshmeats means new people training roller derby, and it's so much fun coaching them. But no time for knitting though. After freshmeat practice, there was scrimmage. Scrimmage means bout training at training. Very fun, which most roller derby related things are, but again, no time for knitting. So now after a long day, I finally hit the couch. I have knitted about two rows on my Hanneli-sweater during a break at work, but I'm not complaining since the day was full of roller derby. But I don't have that much knitting to show, but I can show a pair of socks I finished during the weekend. The knitting was done about three weeks ago, but the last weaving in of threads was done this weekend. Things like that can actually take longer than knitting the project. Anyway, these socks are pretty similar to another pair I knitted before Christmas. Stripes are fun! Feels like it goes faster too. I've used Fabel on needles 2,5 mm and the size is about 38-39.

Some place on the Internet I read about a person who saved all the labels from the yarn she knitted during a year. To be honest, I saw it like two or three years ago, but I've always weighed my yarn. At the end of 2016 I noticed the number of label collections had increased, and I had to admit it was kind of fun to check out how many labels people had managed to collect during a year. I thought I'd might do the same this year. And yes, I know it's nothing new. I'm good in making on the spur of the moment decisions, as long as you give me some time to think about it first.

It feels like I haven't knitted that much in 2017. It might be just the feeling. I have already quite a collection of labels. And most of the skeins are actually all gone, nothing left. 26 labels, which means 26 skeins of 50 g. That is 1 300 g, 1,3 kg yarn knitted so far this year. Not too bad! A motivation when I feel I haven't been knitting that much. I might have knitted a bit after all. Labels; the new sign of time passing by.

The World Championship in speed skating at the Viking ship in Hamar. A lot of noise, a lot of people, not too cold, fast skaters and of course my knitting. Today it was time for the 1500 m for both men and women, 5000 m for women and 10 000 m for men. A lot of time to knit, in other words. And imagine, I wasn't alone knitting at the venue. I observed at least three other knitters around me. How fun is that! And it really is a perfect place to knit. I could have brought a knitting project with stockinette stitch, but I brought with me Hanneli-sweater with a lot of cables. It might not have been the best knitting project, but hey, I've learned the pattern so it was ok. And I didn't even have to knit backwards. I got a lot done as well, and I almost finished the front part. So I can tick off knitting at a skating championship. Earlier I've been knitting in public at a lot of different concerts, in La Sagrada Familia, at the theater, at the movie theaters, at a football game at Ullevål and at work seminars. Where have you knitted in public?

And I have to tell you, the Norwegian skaters made a good effort today, but yeat another time the Dutch skaters won the gold medals. Congratulations to Ireen Wüst and Sven Kramer!

Today it's perfect knitting weather. It's a mix of sleet and snow and wind outside, the kind of weather that is nice to look out on. Except from a short walk, I've been indoor with my knitting and a book today. These kind of days are cozy, lazy and relaxing. I've been knitting my Hanneli-sweater with a lots of cables. But a lot of cables keeps the interest up and you can really see the progress you're making. With all these kind of cables, I thought about different techniques when it comes to cabling. I usually use a cable needle, but not always. And what do you do if you forgot the cable needle? I usually slip all the stitches in the cable and pick them up again in the right order again. Then I knit them. That works fine, especially if the yarn is not slippery and the stitches frog right away. If the yarn is slippery, I knit the stitches in the right order while they are still on left needle and without slipping them over to the right needle until I've knitted all the stitches in the cable. It's real handy to cable without the cable needle, especially if you bring your knitting on a trip. Cable needles have a tendency to disappear or get lost.

Well, what have I finished in February? Not much really. February is a short month, and I've been busy with other things. Or have I really? I'm not really sure what I've been doing, but time has flown past. I've finished four projects, two pussyhats, a pair of baby socks and a sweater. None of the projects reduced my stash with a lot. But none of my projects increased my stash either.

I've started a new pair of socks, and I've continued knitting on my Wu Tang Clan-sweater. My plans for March is to knit another Hanneli-sweater, finish Loppa which I had planned on finishing in December, finish the Wu Tang Clan-sweater and finish the brain hat. And Socks Madness started too. The first pattern is already released, and all the contestants have two weeks to finish the first pair. I hope to finish it in time too. Big plans for March.

Do you have big plans for March?

And since it's March, I'm going to show my pusshyhats 8. March this year. I hope to see a lot of pink pussycats that day. Cause you are joining in, right?

Yes, we all need a bit of madness in our lives. I think a small dose of madness is important. And I think knitters might have a bit more madness than other people. Today a picture has been reposted a lot of times on Instagram, a picture that explains the yarn stash a lot of knitters have at home. I think the picture prove my point when it comes to madness, and I don't necessary this madness is unhealthy. I believe the trait to go 100% into something is a good thing. Ok, some people might use it a bit more useful than other, athletes, authors and artists might use it for a better good. I use it to buy yarn. And knit! Well, somebody have to, right?. I'm exceptionally good buying yarn, and I'm 100% into it. Everytime I meet other people with the same madness as me, is a good evening. Tonight there was knit night again. Every first Thursday of the month and every third Thursday of the month. Always a lot of people, so if you're planning on coming, be there early. Chatting, knitting and complete understanding and empathy for the huge yarn stash still growing at home.

I have joind blogg100 again. Last time I tried, I had my blog a different place for a while. I don't think I made it to a 100 days either, but who cares? I'm trying again this year! Blogg100 is a concept where you write a blog post every day for 100 days. Today is the first day, so here I go.

My birthday was recently, and I was so lucky to get a skein of 10 favner, from Lofoten wool together with a mitten pattern. I don't have time to knit the mittens right away, but I will some day. As many of you I have way too many projects on the needles. My goal at the start of the year was to reduce my number of WIPs and UFOs, but I can't say that I've succeeded. Not that I've worked that hard either. I admit I was sidetracked by new projects. Normally I don't take orders, but lately I have been knitting orders. I'm saving up to a trip to Rhinebeck, so I have been knitting some orders. The next order is another Hanneli-sweater with cables. Not the worst order, since the sweater was quite fun to knit.

Welcome! I'm a yarnhoarder, knittingaddict and a book addict, which the content of this blog prove. I'll be happy if you leave a comment. Follow me on Instagram, I'm strikkeann. I also have a book blog.